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Indiana Farm Bureau members have a lot to celebrate following the 2019 session of the General Assembly. Bills addressing all of INFB’s priority positions were passed into law.

“Indiana Farm Bureau was successful in advocating for legislation in the 2019 session that improved agriculture and rural Indiana. That would not have been possible without our members,” said Katrina Hall, INFB’s director of public policy. “They made sure their voices were heard by visiting the Statehouse nearly every day, communicating with legislators at third-house meetings, and connecting with their elected officials by phone and email. They were able to share how the decisions made in the state’s capital impact their farms, businesses and communities.”

INFB’s goal of reducing extraterritorial jurisdiction was met through Senate Enrolled Act 535. This bill addresses the increasing trend of municipalities restricting activities outside their borders and removes a municipality’s ability to use eminent domain outside of its jurisdiction unless specifically authorized by statute.

“In some instances, citizens in rural communities have had to adhere to regulations from both county and municipality, and those regulations often conflict,” said Hall. “Individuals who live outside of a municipality’s jurisdiction do not get to vote for the officials making those decisions within the municipal government. SEA 535 removes that additional layer of regulation and rectifies these overreaches of power.”

Another INFB priority was to address the Kankakee and Yellow rivers, which flooded in February 2018 causing significant damage to homes, roads and farmland. House Enrolled Act 1270 replaces the 24-member Kankakee River Basin Commission with nine voting members. The commission now has the authority to acquire land for the construction of levees and flood easements, remove trees, stabilize banks and remove sediment, as well as other tactics to reduce the risk of flooding in the future. The preliminary estimate for the cost of the work is $120 million.

“With each significant rain event, the flooding in the Kankakee River Basin has escalated,” said Justin Schneider, INFB’s director of state government relations. “The funding, which is going to be secured from assessments for all properties in the basin, appropriations from the state and hopefully federal dollars, will be used to address the many issues with the river. We anticipate that HEA 1270 will be used as a model for other river basins in the state if they experience recurring flooding.”

Farm Bureau members successfully advocated for many budget items in the 2019 session. HEA 1001 includes an appropriation for the Kankakee River; an investment of $763 million for K-12 education; bonding authority of $73 million for Purdue University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital; and debt-service payments to allow the state fairgrounds to complete the renovation of the Fall Creek Pavilion/Swine Barn.

The budget also includes $100 million for broadband expansion in rural areas originally announced in Gov. Holcomb’s Next Level Connections program.

INFB also supported HEA 1002, a workforce education bill that includes several career and technical education (CTE) initiatives and modernizes the CTE funding formula where agriculture classes are funded. 

Annexation, rural broadband also addressed during session

 Other key bills that were supported by INFB during the 2019 session of the General Assembly were:

• HEA 1427 – Requires annexation remonstrance waivers that are more than 15 years old to be voided and sets specific requirements for recording them. The bill also specifies how personal property equipment acquired through a like-kind exchange should be assessed, which gives farmers and other business owners clarity and consistency about personal property tax assessments.
• SEA 460 – Creates a new grant program for the distribution of money for broadband projects in rural areas.
• SEA 516 – Provides authority for the Office of the State Seed Commissioner to seek federal approval of a hemp production licensing program.
• SEA 565 – Restores the state income tax treatment of a like-kind exchange when old equipment is traded for new equipment. This was done to adjust the state tax code following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the changes made to Section 1031 procedures at the federal level. Due to the provisions in SEA 565, if a farmer traded equipment in 2018 and paid income tax on the trade-in value of a piece of equipment, an amended tax return can be filed with the state.